Deadlands!
Jul. 3rd, 2006 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselking"That's Rigor Mortis. He's not moving under his own power."
Our Heroes finally gave up on the Undead Texas Ranger actually getting back up - or, at least, they figure that if he's going to recover, he can dig himself up out of the ground, since he really does appear to be staying dead this time. Attempting to bury him without a shovel was an interesting experience, to say the least, and the arguments over what to say and if they should sing or not were, um, entertaining.
Our Heroes then encountered a group of heavily armed travellers with a pair of wagons heading into the town they'd barely escaped, the day before. Being heroic sorts, they went to warn these folks, only to discover that these newcomers knew about the gadget-armed gang and were, in fact, coming around specifically because of that.
The newcomers, led by an erratic sort who called himself Dr Ezekiel Young of Wasatch Rail Lines, explained that they were just being good neighbours, coming to deal with the kind of problem that local law enforcement couldn't handle without army reinforcements. Since those are in short supply "and the good people of this country are desperate for protection from evil-doers and vagabond!", he'd brought some of his security employees to deal with the problem before "those poor people suffer any longer!" - and, of course, the fact that this heavily-armed gang is operating near his company's new rail construction made an impact on his thinking, too.
They seemed surprised and maybe even concerned that Rattlesnake Jake had been killed before they arrived, but they were heartened by the news that members of the gang and the local Sheriff's department had been seen working together, and that the Steam Wagon was still unaccounted for. Our Heroes decided that going along with them into town was a great idea.
"So, does saving her ass all the time qualify me for bonus points for being Heroic, Brave, or Impulsive?"
In town, of course, the "entirely law-abiding Sheriff Roberts" demanded that these lawbreakers be arrested and re-jailed. Doctor Young was set to comply with the request until members of the gang, gatling pistols and bulletproof vests in tow, came into line of sight. Having finally found his objective, he hopped off the first wagon as the gatling gun concealed inside opened fire on the sheriff and his deputies.
Our Heroes were experiencing a great feeling of schadenfreude.
The Incredibly Large Irishman and the Scientist Who Was Raised By Wolves sprinted off in the confusion to attempt, naturally enough, to steal back their confiscated belongings. The huckster ran to get the town doctor, because there were a WHOLE LOT OF BULLETS flying around.
She got back in time to see the cavalry debarking from the second cart: A full-blown Automaton, which stomped its way down the street to the sheriff's office where a number of people were holed up, and started dismantling the place with its arm-mounted gatling gun.
Our Heroes broke in the Sheriff's office the back way, went upstairs, and reclaimed their confiscated firearms. As soon as they came into view of the automaton while carrying weapons, it opened fire on them. The Giant Irishman dropped the guns, hit the dirt to avoid the fire, and it stopped firing. The other PC decided that, when confronted with a large, scary, armored machine that shot at her with a gatling gun as soon as it saw she had a weapon, the best solution would be to hold on to her guns and shoot back at it.
No, really.
"So, what's the to-hit roll?"
"5d6, keep the highest."
"What did you roll?"
"67."
The Giant Irishman ran to try to save her, and made himself a target, too. The Huckster was just arriving, pulled Phantom Fingers, got 4 Of A Kind (enough to move around a fully loaded freight car telekinetically)... and backlashed, knocking herself unconscious before the hex could resolve. Apparently, she got a Manitou strong enough to throw a train, and he beat her about the skull before she got control.
Her reaction, however, directed at the Automaton, was priceless.
"I'll get you next time, Gadget. Next time!"
I took pity on the Scientist, and decided that 6 3d8 bullets, all guaranteed to hit Vital Bits or Head due to the *11* raises on the hit roll, was not a really fun thing to do, even if it WOULD be fair since she SHOT THE AUTOMATON for NO REASON. She still didn't drop her gun, however, and started running away, with a giant mechanical man sloooooowly chasing her.
Our Heroes then recovered their confiscated horse (the Giant Irishman) and re-stole their stolen horses (the Huckster and the Scientist - the Scientist "paying for it" by leaving a bag full of stolen silverware in the stall), and rode out of town, since their names and descriptions had just arrived at the telgraph office, still wanted for murder, horse thievery, and jailbreaking one town back...
Our Heroes finally gave up on the Undead Texas Ranger actually getting back up - or, at least, they figure that if he's going to recover, he can dig himself up out of the ground, since he really does appear to be staying dead this time. Attempting to bury him without a shovel was an interesting experience, to say the least, and the arguments over what to say and if they should sing or not were, um, entertaining.
Our Heroes then encountered a group of heavily armed travellers with a pair of wagons heading into the town they'd barely escaped, the day before. Being heroic sorts, they went to warn these folks, only to discover that these newcomers knew about the gadget-armed gang and were, in fact, coming around specifically because of that.
The newcomers, led by an erratic sort who called himself Dr Ezekiel Young of Wasatch Rail Lines, explained that they were just being good neighbours, coming to deal with the kind of problem that local law enforcement couldn't handle without army reinforcements. Since those are in short supply "and the good people of this country are desperate for protection from evil-doers and vagabond!", he'd brought some of his security employees to deal with the problem before "those poor people suffer any longer!" - and, of course, the fact that this heavily-armed gang is operating near his company's new rail construction made an impact on his thinking, too.
They seemed surprised and maybe even concerned that Rattlesnake Jake had been killed before they arrived, but they were heartened by the news that members of the gang and the local Sheriff's department had been seen working together, and that the Steam Wagon was still unaccounted for. Our Heroes decided that going along with them into town was a great idea.
"So, does saving her ass all the time qualify me for bonus points for being Heroic, Brave, or Impulsive?"
In town, of course, the "entirely law-abiding Sheriff Roberts" demanded that these lawbreakers be arrested and re-jailed. Doctor Young was set to comply with the request until members of the gang, gatling pistols and bulletproof vests in tow, came into line of sight. Having finally found his objective, he hopped off the first wagon as the gatling gun concealed inside opened fire on the sheriff and his deputies.
Our Heroes were experiencing a great feeling of schadenfreude.
The Incredibly Large Irishman and the Scientist Who Was Raised By Wolves sprinted off in the confusion to attempt, naturally enough, to steal back their confiscated belongings. The huckster ran to get the town doctor, because there were a WHOLE LOT OF BULLETS flying around.
She got back in time to see the cavalry debarking from the second cart: A full-blown Automaton, which stomped its way down the street to the sheriff's office where a number of people were holed up, and started dismantling the place with its arm-mounted gatling gun.
Our Heroes broke in the Sheriff's office the back way, went upstairs, and reclaimed their confiscated firearms. As soon as they came into view of the automaton while carrying weapons, it opened fire on them. The Giant Irishman dropped the guns, hit the dirt to avoid the fire, and it stopped firing. The other PC decided that, when confronted with a large, scary, armored machine that shot at her with a gatling gun as soon as it saw she had a weapon, the best solution would be to hold on to her guns and shoot back at it.
No, really.
"So, what's the to-hit roll?"
"5d6, keep the highest."
"What did you roll?"
"67."
The Giant Irishman ran to try to save her, and made himself a target, too. The Huckster was just arriving, pulled Phantom Fingers, got 4 Of A Kind (enough to move around a fully loaded freight car telekinetically)... and backlashed, knocking herself unconscious before the hex could resolve. Apparently, she got a Manitou strong enough to throw a train, and he beat her about the skull before she got control.
Her reaction, however, directed at the Automaton, was priceless.
"I'll get you next time, Gadget. Next time!"
I took pity on the Scientist, and decided that 6 3d8 bullets, all guaranteed to hit Vital Bits or Head due to the *11* raises on the hit roll, was not a really fun thing to do, even if it WOULD be fair since she SHOT THE AUTOMATON for NO REASON. She still didn't drop her gun, however, and started running away, with a giant mechanical man sloooooowly chasing her.
Our Heroes then recovered their confiscated horse (the Giant Irishman) and re-stole their stolen horses (the Huckster and the Scientist - the Scientist "paying for it" by leaving a bag full of stolen silverware in the stall), and rode out of town, since their names and descriptions had just arrived at the telgraph office, still wanted for murder, horse thievery, and jailbreaking one town back...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 03:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 04:46 pm (UTC)That horse was *not* stole--oh, forget it. :)
(Do you brand horses? I thought you only branded cattle? I've never seen a branded horse in a Western. Anyway.)
> The Huckster was just arriving, pulled Phantom Fingers, got 4 Of A Kind
> (enough to move around a fully loaded freight car telekinetically)... and
> backlashed, knocking herself unconscious before the hex could resolve.
That's knocking herself unconscious *twice*.
One does not become a huckster if one is hoping to be able to produce reliable results, I am thinking.
(Must find out if Soul Blast works on that thing... Theories about Mr. Young will be shared next game.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 04:55 pm (UTC)Is it possible for a horse to carry both Velvet and Brett? There's that whole Rocky Springs being kind of pissed and coming up behind us thing. And I'm not sure how well Jake carries humans.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 04:57 pm (UTC)And hucksters can reliably produce results once their skill gets high enough - 5 or 6 D12 means that you're extremely likely to get at least a 10[1], with a decent shot at a 15[2]. On 8 cards, you can *usually* pull two pair, three of a kind, flush, or straight.
The trick is that you can't reliably produce BIG results, and even "reliable" is going to fail you sometimes and pull a straight flush other times.
[1]: 78% for 5d12, 83% for 6D12
[2]: The math gets annoying, but essentially you need 1- ((11/12) + (1/12)*(1/6))^5 for 5 dice and ^6 for 6 dice.[3]
[3]: And now that I've done it - 30% chance of a 15 on 5d12. 36% of a 15 on 6d12.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 05:05 pm (UTC)Oh, it's not the dice which strike me as unreliable; it's the cards. I don't mind--I like it, it fits very well with the whole gambling aspect of the huckster and gives Velvet an outlet for being a risk junkie until she can afford a Smith & Robards steam-powered bicycle and start jumping canyons[1]--but it amuses me that her results have been so widely varied.
Old Hand could go a huge ways towards fixing that, but I don't think I'll be looking at it just yet.
---
[1] Not seriously.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 06:10 pm (UTC)51% chance of a 15 on 10 dice. 95% chance of a 10 on 10 dice.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 06:53 pm (UTC)I think I'll be buying Mein up a little before I even *begin* to look at more Hexslingin' dice. What are the odds of a bust on 5d12, by the way?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 06:59 pm (UTC)Which is 5!/3!2! * 1/12^3
= 0.5%.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 07:10 pm (UTC)Math is hard. Let's go shopping.
-K
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 07:16 pm (UTC)The EXACT number is:
(5c3)[(1/12)^3] * [(11/12)^2] + (5c4)[(1/12)^4] * [(11/12)] + [(1/12)^5]
But since I rounded off at half a percent, I didn't really feel like adding the extra calculations.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 07:37 pm (UTC)You go shopping. I'll critique the eyeshadow you buy once you're back.